Anatomical biopsy sampler



May 19, 1970" R. M. HALL 3,5 2

- ANATOMICA'L BIOPSY SAMPLER Filed Oct. 26, 1967 INVENTOR. ROBEKTM. HALL United States Patent 3,512,519 ANATOMICAL BIOPSY SAMPLER Robert M. Hall, 1253 Coast Village Road, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93103 Filed Oct. 26, 1967, Ser. No. 678,319 Int. Cl. A61b /00 US. Cl. 128-2 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A biopsy sampler for use with high speed surgical instruments being a generally cylindrically shaped body with an annular cutting element at its forward end, the cross-section of which is in the shape of a spear head. The cylindrically shaped body is provided with a transverse opening for transverse removal of the specimen after the specimen has been severed from the body tissue under examination.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Field of invention This invention relates to the field applicances used in operative surgery and more particularly in anatomical biopsy work in removing a specimen for examination from tissue under observation.

Description of prior art It has been the practice in the past Where biospy procedures are being performed to take small segments of living tissue for examination from the body tissue under observation by using surgical scissors or knife.

The use of such surgical instruments, although they can perform the necessary dissection, result in an irregular cutting Wholely dependent on the skill of the surgeon and may adversely affect the histology of the tissue from which a biopsy specimen is being severed, and can, depending on tissue under observation, have a definite traumatic effect which is not desirable in biospy procedure.

The present invention is directed to a biopsy sampler which operates much faster than previous surgical appliances or used in such procedures and performs the sampling procedure in a more delicate fashion preserving the histology of the tissue under examination with much less resultant traumatic effect.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention realtes to a biopsy sampler for use with high speed powered surgical instruments and applied in anatomical biopsies and comprises generally a cylindrically shaped body section closed at one end to receive a mounting shaft to be chucked in the surgical powered instrument. The forward end of the sampler is provided with an annular cutting element for rotatably clutting into, at high speeds, layers of tissue and fascia to withdraw a cored sample from the tissue under observation. The cylindrical body section has transverse openings therethrough to permit the lateral removal of the cored sample from the body section.

The annular cutting element is triangular in cross-section and closely resembles a spear head. Outwardly disposed shoulders are formed rearwardly of the annular cutting edge adjacent the forward edge of the transverse openings to hold and support the cored sample upon its removal from the tissue of facia under biopsy observation.

An important feature of the biopsy sample is that its annular cutting edge permits high speed operation of the sampler and thus less tissue histology changing since no 3,5 1 Z ,5 l9 Patented May 19, 1970 tearing of the tissue results as is the case in use of surgigical scissors, even when carefully used. The adjacent cooperative cutting blades of surgical scissors have a great tearing effect that cannot be avoided. Such effect is not present in the use of the annular cutting blade of the biopsy sampler herein disclosed.

The significant area of adoption of the biopsy sampler comprising this invention has been in muscle biopsy, especially heart biopsy. The high speed application of the biopsy sampler permits a clean cutting action resulting in no tears or lacerations. No pressure or forceful cutting against the heart muscle is necessary since the biopsy sampler does all the cutting upon high speed rotation. A sample core into the heart muscle tissue may be made at a depth of one centimeter with little resultant effect to the rest of the muscle tissue.

The biopsy sampler has also found application in other fields of endeavor other than biopsy. The sampler has been used in the taking of cores with hair for example, from the back of the neck for transplanting in other areas of the head, such as, restoring a receding hair line. A clear hair root core is obtained with no tears or lacerations, that would result in the case of use of a knife or scalpel.

From the following it can readily be understood that the biopsy sampler, herein disclosed, has wide application in cosmetic repair and biopsy sampling of delicate and invulnerable tissue organisms.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claim.

The accompanying drawings show for the purposes of exemplification, without limiting the invention thereto certain practical embodiments illustrating the principles of this invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the biopsy sampler comprising this invention.

FIG. 2 is a longiudinal cross-sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIG. 3 of the biopsy sampler of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a forward end view of the biopsy sampler of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the biopsy sampler of FIG. 1.

As shown in the figures, the biopsy sampler 1 comprises the cylindrically shaped body 2 closed at end 3 to which is secured the stem 4 to be chucked and driven by a high speed surgical instrument, preferably a pneumatic operated surgical instrument permitting a wide range variable speed operation.

The annular cutting element 5 is provided on the forward open end of the sampler and, as shown in FIG. 2, has a cross-sectional appearance to a spear head or may be referred to as triangular shape forming outwardly disposed annular shoulder 6 and the inwardly disposed shoulder 7. A transverse passage is provided through the body section 2 comprising openings 8 and 9 which are substantially opposite one another. As shown in FIG. 4, the openings 8 and 9 cut away part of the cylindrical shape of the body section 2 and form the arcuate shoulders 10 at the forward end or lip of each of the openings 8 and 9.

It is important to note that the annular shoulder 6 will have a tendency to push slightly away surrounding tissue as the biopsy sampler is advanced into the tissue to core a sample therefrom and aid in the overall removal of the tissue within the cored sample permitting the latter to fold over or spread upon the forward edge shoulders 10 of the transverse passage. The cored tissue sample may be easily withdrawn from the tissue under observation since the cored sample is permitted to rest upon and against the shoulders 10.

The annular cutting element consists of the sharp blade edge 11 formed by the two side surfaces 12 and 13.

The edge 11 is very sharp so that the annular cut made into the tissue will be a clean but swift and continuous out rather than a jagged out which is the natural result from the reciprocal motion of a knife or scalpel no matter what degree of skill the surgeon may possess.

Upon withdrawal of the biopsy sampler from the tissue under observation with a cored sample within the body section 2, the cored sample or specimen may be removed from the chamber 14 by withdrawal through either of the openings 8 or 9 of the transverse passage for examination.

I claim:

1. A biopsy sampler for rotatably cutting into layers of anatomical tissue to remove a cored specimen therefrom comprising a hollow cylindrical body having a central specimen chamber therein and a rearwardly extending shaft, a pair of opposed windows extending longitudinally in said cylindrical body to form opposed arcuate openings and parallel sections to provide a trans verse passage therethrough and to form two forward and two rearward arcuate shoulders disposed in spaced radial planes normal to the axis of said cylindrical body, characterized by an annular cutting element on the forward end of said cylindrical body, said cutting element having a cross-sectional contour of triangular configuration with inner and outer annular faces converging to form a forward cutting edge apex, the rear edge of each of said faces extending outwardly from said cylindrical body providing inner and outer annular shoulders, said inner 4 and outer annular shoulders disposed in a radial plane coincident with the radial plane of said forward arcuate shoulders, said inner and outer annular shoulders and said forward arcuate shoulders to cooperatively spread the anatomical tissue after cutting and to grip the cored specimen and permit severance of the same from surrounding tissue.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,557,464 10/1925 Mick 128305 XR 2,419,045 4/ 1947 Whittaker 128305 2,433,058 12/1947 Mesaros 83684 XR 2,473,968 6/1949 Paton 128305 2,557,191 6/1951 King 30-278 XR 2,568,284 9/1951 Harrison 83684 XR 2,818,852 1/1958 Kugler 1282 3,384,085 5/1968 Hall 128305 FOREIGN PATENTS 777,245 11/ 1934 France.

1,093,338 11/1954 France.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner K. L. HOWELL, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

